Kirlian Camera (band)

This page is about the band named Kirlian Camera. For other meanings of Kirlian Camera, see Kirlian Camera (disambiguation)

Kirlian Camera
Origin	Parma, Italy
Genres	Electrowave Synthpop Dark Wave
Years active	1980–present
Labels	Discordia, Nova Tekk, Trisol, Triton, Virgin Music, Out of Line
Associated acts	Stalingrad, Hipnosis, Siderarctica, spectra*paris
Website	http://www.kirliancamera.com
Members
Angelo Bergamini, Elena Fossi, Sarah Crespi

Kirlian Camera is an Italian group playing mostly electronic darkwave music.

History

The group was founded in 1980 by Angelo Bergamini, and was a pioneering act of the Italian synthpop scene, eventually being the first Italian group to be signed to Virgin Records.

Between 1982 and 1984, Bergamini also played in the Italian italodisco group Hipnosis, which earned a platinum record for album sales in Germany, and had a top-10 hit throughout Europe with their single "Pulstar".

During the eighties, Kirlian Camera's sound became progressively darker, moving away from the synth pop sound dominating their earlier releases. In 1993, they signed to the German label Discordia. 1995 saw them collaborate with labelmates Dive on Obsession EP.

While the group's lineup has constantly changed over the years with many members joining and leaving, it has been relatively stable since 1999, with songwriter Angelo Bergamini being joined by full-time singer Elena Fossi.

Discography

Albums

• Kirlian Camera (1981, mini album)
• It Doesn't Matter Now (1983)
• Eclipse (Das Schwarze Denkmal)(1988)
• Todesengel The Fall of Life (1991)
• Schmerz (1992)
• Erinnerung (1994)
• Solaris - The Last Corridor (1995)
• Pictures From Eternity (1996)
• The Desert Inside (1997, mini album)
• The Ice Curtain (1997, 2CD compilation)
• Unidentified Light (1998)
• Kalte Container (1999 - contains remixes. A limited edition version includes printed biography)
• Still Air (2000)
• Absentee (2001)
• Uno (2001) (compilation of 'Dawn' demotape and 'Kirlian Camera' mini album)
• Invisible Front 2005 (2004)
• Coroner's Sun (2006)
• Odyssey Europa (2009)
• Shadow Mission HELD V (2009)
• Nightglory (2011)

Singles and EPs

• Passing Masks (1982 - released under name 'Kirlian Camera & Simone Buja)
• Communicate (1983)
• Edges (1984)
• Blue Room (1985)
• Ocean (1986)
• Human Ocean (1986 - single split with The Human League)
• Heldenplatz (1987)
• Austria (1988)
• Schmerz (1992, EP)
• Split (1993 single split with Andromeda Complex)
• Eklipse Zwei (1994, EP)
• Obsession (1995 EP split with Dive)
• Your Face In The Sun (1996)
• Drifitng (1998)
• The Burning Sea (1999)
• Le Printemps Des Larmes (2000)

Controversy

On 26 April 1999, Kirlian Camera was drawn into the then-current sensationalism over Goth culture when they were off-handedly mentioned by social scientist Alfred Schobert in der Spiegel, in an interview printed as a sidebar to a 4-page newspaper feature on the Columbine High School shootings. Schobert contended that the group (along with Death in June and Boyd Rice) was an example of a "neo-fascist element" in contemporary goth and EBM music, and accused them of performing a Hitler salute onstage.

In their next cd, the group issued a communique, stating that they were offended by the witch hunt against them, but that they wanted to keep their political opinion to themselves, refusing to place the band within one specific political orientation. They denied that they were right wing extremists, pointing out that past member Nancy Appiah was Ghanaian, and that they sing lyrics by the Jewish-German poet August Stramm.[2] However, they were not allowed to respond in der Spiegel, and as a result show cancellations and protests by Anti-Fascist Action continued to dog them through 2002.

Furthermore, from interviews, one could learn that Angelo Bergamini does not state his own political preferences, and that the women from the band are oriented rather towards the left.

References

• http://www.kirliancamera.com/ - official web site
• The "der Spiegel" sidebar, reprinted at Boyd Rice's website

External links

Kirlian Camera discography at MusicBrainz